608 Unsafe School Choice Option for Students in Persistently Dangerous Schools and for

1. 608 Unsafe School Choice Option for Students in Persistently Dangerous Schools and for Students who Have Been Victims of a Violent Felony School Climate & Discipline Program Presentation

2. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001), requires that a State Education Agency establish a State Unsafe School Choice Option policy in order to receive funding under ESEA. School Climate & Discipline Program Presentation

3. 1.0 Definitions: In this regulation, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated below: School Climate & Discipline Program Presentation

4. Crime shall have the same meaning as provided in 14 Del.C. §4112. Enrolled students unless the context indicates otherwise, means all students included In the Delaware Student Information System (DELSIS) report for the year of the data collection. Firearm means handgun, rifle, shotgun, or other type of firearm as that term is definedin the federal Gun Free Schools Zone Act at 18 U.S.C.A. §921. Fiscal year means the period of July 1 through June 30. A Gun free schools violation means the prohibited bringing to school, or possessionwhile in school of a firearm by a student. School Climate & Discipline Program Presentation

5. Persistently Dangerous School means a school that has five or more unsafe incidents for every one hundred students enrolled for three consecutive fiscal years. “Safe school” means a school in the same school district that is not currently identifiedby the Department of Education as a persistently dangerous school. “School” means any public school including charter schools. School property shall have the same meaning as provided in 14 Del.C. §4112 (a)(9). Suspension means, for the purpose of this regulation, the external removal of a studentfrom the general school population. Terroristic threatening shall have the same meaning as provided in 11 Del.C. §621. School Climate & Discipline Program Presentation

6. “Unsafe incidents” means any of the following: The school suspended or expelled a student for a gun- free schools violation; or The school suspended or expelled a student for a crime committed on school property which is required to be reported under 14 Del.C. §4112; or The school reported a crime committed by a non-student on school property that is required to be reported under 14 Del.C. §4112; or The school suspended or expelled a student for terroristic threatening as that term is defined in 11 Del.C. §621. School Climate & Discipline Program Presentation

7. Violent felony shall have the same meaning as provided in 11 Del.C. §4201(c). (A list of these crimes can be found in the Delaware Guidelines for the Development of the Unsafe School Choice Option.) School Climate & Discipline Program Presentation

8. 2.0 Beginning in July 2003, the Department of Education shall identify each persistently dangerous school using the data reported to it pursuant to the provisions of 14 Del.C. §4112 and 14 DE Admin. Code 601. School Climate & Discipline Program Presentation

9. 2.1 Notwithstanding any provision herein to the contrary, any year that a school fails to comply with the reporting mandates, as set forth in 2.0 above, to the Delaware Department of Education or to the appropriate police agency as set forth above, the Department of Education will consider the school as if it otherwise met the criteria to be classified as a persistently dangerous school for that year until such time as it may be determined, in the sole discretion of the Department, that the school has met such reporting requirements. School Climate & Discipline Program Presentation

10. 2.2 A school identified as persistently dangerous will retain that designation for the entire fiscal year. School Climate & Discipline Program Presentation

11. 3.0 A student attending a persistently dangerous school shall be allowed to choice to a safe school in the same school district, including a charter school; provided such an option exists in the district, the student should be permitted to transfer to a school that is making adequate yearly progress and has not been identified as being in school improvement, corrective action or restructuring. School Climate & Discipline Program Presentation

12. 3.1 Each public school district having one or more persistently dangerous schools and any charter school identified as a persistently dangerous school shall develop a plan and time line that describes the process for notifying parents of the school’s status and for relocating any student who exercises the right to choice to a safe school. The plan shall also describe the corrective actions that will be implemented. The plan shall be forwarded to the Department of Education no later than September 15th of the year that the school is identified. School Climate & Discipline Program Presentation

13. 4.0 A student who is the victim of a violent felony while in or on the grounds of a school in which the student is enrolled shall be allowed to choice to a safe school in the same school district, including a charter school; the student should be permitted to transfer to a school that is making adequate yearly progress and has not been identified as being in school improvement, corrective action or restructuring. School Climate & Discipline Program Presentation

14. 4.1 All school districts and charter schools shall establish a plan that describes their policies and procedures for providing school choice options to a student who is the victim of a violent felony, including the process for notifying parents. These plans shall be forwarded to the Department of Education by September 15, 2003. School Climate & Discipline Program Presentation